Parking Lot Troll or Meet Snowesters

Join the snowy range snowmobile club, their FB group and get to know folks there.




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Clubs are great , but do what you feel is right .
FaceBook , NOT my thing .
I’ve done lots of motor sports by myself , I’m not out to prove my abilities to others , just myself !
Drive to parking areas you are familiar with , check around for people to ride with, hang with them , or play it safe & stay on the trail by yourself .
Just don’t get to 65 and say “ Wish I had snowmobiled more often ! “
Terry

newmy1 said:

Join the snowy range snowmobile club, their FB group and get to know folks there.

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I'm a big fan of Snowmobile clubs. Might take a day or so to figure out who has similar riding interest and abilities as you, but my past Club days (on and off the snow) are some of the best ! The people, the laughs and last, but not least, the riding.

I think you also have the best chance of making a contact that will show up at your meeting point. Again, my past experience in a Club.

Their website is http://srscwy.com/ - send them an email, tell them what you are looking for, ask when you can hook up, tell them you don't do FB much, etc.

I've done both

Most of the folks I started riding with 12 years ago after moving to CO I met through this forum ... But, unfortunately forums aren't as popular now as they were back then.

Facebook is such an epic clusterf*ck of stupidity I don't dare post an "Anyone wanna ride thread??!" in a public group on there ....

So, my regular group I ride with these days I met through just showing up in the parking lot and bullsh*tting with people a few years back. Worked out well

"If you wanna find some quality friends, you gotta wade through all the d!ⓒ*s first."

Substitute "riding buddies" for friends, and Cartman expresses the problem pretty well, (while talking about Facebook to boot). I moved back to MT a couple years ago, and none of my friends have sleds, so it's an uphill battle finding anyone to ride with. What's worse, because I work part time and am building a house, I really can't justify spending money on a new(er) sled. So I'm still riding my old, trusty 600/144, and for some potential riding partners, mentioning anything less than an 800/155 goes over about as well as "I've got a bit of the plague."

I've had a similar experience to robrstopr, fortunately not so far out of my way. I was living in WA, my 600 was a 136 at the time; I'd bought it the summer before and just started riding. I got ahold of the head of one of the riding clubs (he never asked about my sled or experience, BTW), arranged to meet up, and headed up the trail with a small pack. Yup, I was a complete nube, and, long story short, I got ditched within an hour of setting off. So, I've been leery of trying to find people to ride with from the get-go, and most of my early years of riding were spent doing my best to play it safe by myself. The last couple years I either ride around the hills when there's enough snow or go up with a friend riding my brother's old Indy SKS, which, compared to my sled, is about as limited as mine is to a new 850.

So, at least you're not the only one without a great riding group. I've done some parts swapping here on Snowest, plus just posting back and forth, and based on that, I wouldn't think most members would flake out on a group ride. I might give Dogmeat's idea a try though – pretty easy to tell if someone is the kind of person and type of rider you'd want to hang out with that way. One thing that would be nice would be if we could set up regular mini group rides. Unfortunately, most people who already have a riding group are going to make their own (private) plans for the popular spots, so that takes up a pretty big pool of riders. Then the rest of us may be too intermittent to get any numbers. Still, I think if someone local were to say "meet me at Pilot Creek at 9AM Sat if you want to ride" a couple times Jan-Mar, you might get some decent groups together. Just a thought; sometimes you just gotta keep throwing out ideas until something comes together.

robrstopr said:

I may have to wait to chase down another riding group til my girlfriend in Oklahoma gives me an excuse to head back to mountain country...

I was thinking of hitting up the forum ride in Island Park, but I just returned from trip to Kellogg ID picking up buddy's new truck. The drive made me realize although Im certain a great fun trip. I don't know anyone signed up....I recognize a few user names from old days, but driving 1300 miles into the unknown a bit of a stretch.

I did see tonsa sled heads heading up in and around Missoula MT and the Kellogg ID area. Both appeared to have great snow. WY Big Horns seemed to have the best snow and locals knew it...Seen prolly 30 5th wheel sled trailers (rare for my regular areas), and more hitch tow plus sled decks within 30 miles of trail head right at WY, MT border...

Ill get out here next couple weeks no matter what. Im just crying cuz I had it made. Could ride about anyday somewhere someone I know was heading out. Not nowa days...lol Poor me, but Ill recover....lol My own fault...shoulda seen this coming and had kids...permanent riding buddies...lol

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I'd just go to the forum ride, you're bound to meet people there. We used to do a Colorado forum ride with folks on here every year back in the day, but that all kind of went away a few years back.

robrstopr said:

I did meet up with couple Snowesters week and half ago to ride the Snowies. Great guys awesome riders. Unfortunately they wasted most of their first ride day aiding me. Made a climb hit a blowout shortly after cresting the top, then tree. Fought damaged sled for 5 hours to get back to truck. Ive had friends that woulda wanted to bail after this ordeal. These guys went through hell with me and stuck by me later to learn I had 3 broken ribs and internal bleeding. Both continue to check in on me and my healing progress. I can never make it up to them for sure... True stand up guys and proud to have met them. May not get another ride invite, but they are tru cool sledding bros.

I'd name them but they may not want to be associated with forum name....lol

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Robrstopr, you are too nice. It wasn’t wasted time getting you back to Greenrock. It was an unfortunate incident and we are all thankful that you were not hurt worse. You are welcome to ride with us anytime you want.

I'm in the same scenario as the OP, pretty much lost all my riding partners due to family life getting in the way. Last 2 years I have made the drive out from Michigan to ride with people who I only met over forums. The first experience wasn't great. The riding was fine and nobody exaggerated their riding abilitiles or experience, however there was a pretty big personality conflict. I picked up a guy on the way out to split gas and lodging costs. The trip went ok, until he decided to stay out for another week, I had to be home for work so that left me to make the 23 hour drive home solo. Didn't care one bit about the money, just kind of a dick move as it's nice to have somebody help with the drive. Thankfully I insisted on taking my rig. Would've been a disaster had we taken his rig. Last year I couldn't get anybody to commit, so I got on here and made a post and sent a couple pms. Dogmeat was one I pmd and he suggested I get in touch with the dealership in pinedale. They got me hooked up with a great guy to ride with. 2nd day of the the trip we were at dinner and low and behold I was riding with dogmeat all day and we didn't make the connection until we were bsing at the restaurant. It was pretty funny to say the least when we figured it all out. Turns out that Dogmeat rides quite a bit with the local that the dealership hooked me up with. I made the drive solo last year, it was spring so I had great roads and somehow made the 23hour drive straight through. Kind of sucks not having somebody to help with the drive, but oh well that's the crazy **** I'm willing to do to ride the mountains. Anyway, now I have a couple great people to ride with when I am able to get out west. So, yes you can meet some great guys to ride with if you do a little work. Op, I hope you're healing up quickly and it sounds like you too have found some great guys to ride with moving forward. Planning on heading out again from Michigan on February 15th, hoping conditions keep improving.

Castforcash said:

I'm in the same scenario as the OP, pretty much lost all my riding partners due to family life getting in the way. Last 2 years I have made the drive out from Michigan to ride with people who I only met over forums. The first experience wasn't great. The riding was fine and nobody exaggerated their riding abilitiles or experience, however there was a pretty big personality conflict. I picked up a guy on the way out to split gas and lodging costs. The trip went ok, until he decided to stay out for another week, I had to be home for work so that left me to make the 23 hour drive home solo. Didn't care one bit about the money, just kind of a dick move as it's nice to have somebody help with the drive. Thankfully I insisted on taking my rig. Would've been a disaster had we taken his rig. Last year I couldn't get anybody to commit, so I got on here and made a post and sent a couple pms. Dogmeat was one I pmd and he suggested I get in touch with the dealership in pinedale. They got me hooked up with a great guy to ride with. 2nd day of the the trip we were at dinner and low and behold I was riding with dogmeat all day and we didn't make the connection until we were bsing at the restaurant. It was pretty funny to say the least when we figured it all out. Turns out that Dogmeat rides quite a bit with the local that the dealership hooked me up with. I made the drive solo last year, it was spring so I had great roads and somehow made the 23hour drive straight through. Kind of sucks not having somebody to help with the drive, but oh well that's the crazy **** I'm willing to do to ride the mountains. Anyway, now I have a couple great people to ride with when I am able to get out west. So, yes you can meet some great guys to ride with if you do a little work. Op, I hope you're healing up quickly and it sounds like you too have found some great guys to ride with moving forward. Planning on heading out again from Michigan on February 15th, hoping conditions keep improving.

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That was kinda funny how that all turned out .... I never know what I'm gonna do until like 10 minutes before I do it .... LoL.....

I did find out I am gonna be moving here soon though, supposed to start a new job in Denver on the 18th of February.

Well that's good news and sucks at the same time....was looking forward to riding with you again this year! Maybe we will do a Colorado trip sometime! I'm going to be in touch soon.

Castforcash said:

Well that's good news and sucks at the same time....was looking forward to riding with you again this year! Maybe we will do a Colorado trip sometime! I'm going to be in touch soon.

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CO has better snow this year then western wyo for sure

I play parking lot roulette fairly often. The outcomes are uneven. I always meet nice enough people, never ended the day on bad terms, would be glad to run into any of them again. BUT don't expect to always get the ride you would have planned. Even some of the people that look the look with the gear, seem to know how to get off the trailer, and talk about points far from the parking lot, etc. turn out to have an entirely different idea of how to get there. I have spent several days riding the wide open and packed areas while staring at those little openings and gaps in the trees.

One day, parking lot roulette came up with Tudizzle and several of his friends. I had my new Ski Doo I was trying to learn to ride, the snow was great, and they liked TERRAIN! After a few miles and stucks, though, I had to bail on them the next time we came out to a navigation point (trail). I couldn't hang with them, and did not want to hold them back. They were most gracious, and showed a flipside to the roulette-- when you have a bad draw, you need to stick with it. Maybe I can catch up with them again, now that I understand my sled better.